Social media companies engaged in 'vast surveillance,' FTC finds, calling status quo 'unacceptable' (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 1 month ago by gytrash@feddit.uk to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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Popular social media platforms and video streaming services pose serious risks to user privacy, with children and teenagers most at risk, the Federal Trade Commission found in a report published Thursday.

The report, which stretches more than 100 pages, details the data, advertising and recommendation-system efforts by these companies, and how they rely on information about users to sell ads. Users also “lacked any meaningful control over how personal information was used for AI-fueled systems” on the companies’ platforms, according to the report.

“While lucrative for the companies, these surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identify theft to stalking,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a press release...

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[-] kamenlady@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

Criminals with enough money just buy the data.

this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024

85 points (100.0% liked)

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